This thread almost makes me want to cry over the memory of a favorite pen, now lost. Made by the Alvin company, it was supposedly a calligraphy pen but the nib was so narrow, it really functioned as an ordinary fountain pen. I bought it from an office supply store that went out of business, so it was cheapish, maybe $5? The piston worked by screwing the end of the pen up or down to suction ink up through the nib. I had two, and one didn't work as well as the other. I periodically check the Alvin website, as well as ebay, to see if I can find this pen, but no such luck. I was in high school when I bought it, so we're talking more than 20 years ago.

That sucks Bernard I got a bunch of free pens from pharmaceutical companies when I was working in a hospital, and most were meh, but my Lamictal pen is kind of awesome, despite being nothing expensive or seemingly special. It just feels right, and writes exactly how I want it to. Also it's a Lamictal pen, which I find amusing. Sadly, now that the drug companies can't give away swag anymore, once it dies (it's nonrefillable), I can't replace it, and I think it's getting close. Somehow I've actually managed to keep it for several years now, and that is really impressive for me. Maybe that means I could replace it with a really nice pen, but somehow I bet that one I'd lose.

I tend to use the Uni-Ball Impact pen with the instant-dry ink because I am left-handed. Also I guess I generally stick with pens that write with very little friction because I'm both lazy and used to hate the feeling of picking up a micro point pens that had run out of ink and scratching across the page. I suppose it's time to get over that now.

However a few months ago I found a Gamecube-branded pen in the drawer where we keep all the pharmaceutical junk from my mom's old job as a psychiatric nurse. Gamecube pen! It's a big chunky thing with a pretty ordinary ballpoint, but it's a pen about nintendo and I guess I'm a sucker! Where did it come from?!

edit: PS Dick remember when you shat on everyone for caring about pens? I'm calling you out!

I've never had the motor skills for neat/fancy writing, but I love the feeling of writing with a nib. Bernard, those glass ones look pretty interesting. Do the swirls hold more ink so you don't have to dip so often?

I want some advice on brush pens. I got my first, a Pentel GFKP, and it's pretty neat—but just incredibly soft. Is there much of a continuum of rigidity for brush pens? I write/calligraph much more than I doodle, of course, and I can't see clear yet to how I'd write with something like this.

I used to use the Staedtler Graphic 3000s when I was studying Japanese, but they changed the consistency of the brush (it became really firm, and hard to do the brushstrokes with). Then I found (literally, on the floor at uni) a Pentel of some sort that was great, but I could never find a replacement for it when it ran out of ink. So I guess I'm no use to you, also my information is about 20 years old :-(

Firm is exactly what I'm looking for, so that's valuable information. As for technique, I have none, copperpoint (not heard of it) or otherwise. I picked up this brush pen at a whim and I'm going into it entirely cold. Needless to say the habits I've developed with my italic nib fountain pen don't really translate. So I'm starting from square one here.

Firm is exactly what I'm looking for, so that's valuable information. As for technique, I have none, copperpoint (not heard of it)

That would be because I am super tired and am in fact thinking of copper plate! Wikipedia says "This style of calligraphy is different from that produced by angled nibs in that the thickness of the stroke is determined by the pressure applied when writing, instead of nib angle in relation to the writing surface"